Anonymous Eagle - The Marquette Women’s Basketball 2020-21 Season Preview!Your home for coverage of Wisconsin's elite college athletics.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/46843/anon-fave.png2023-11-24T07:27:23-06:00http://www.anonymouseagle.com/rss/stream/213197952023-11-24T07:27:23-06:002023-11-24T07:27:23-06:00The Marquette Women’s Basketball All-Time Assists Chart
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<img alt="Marquette guard Jordan King" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eK8C3BTLEVa72U5Ehmq2cRYdhAc=/0x373:2656x2144/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60165035/Jordan_King.46.jpeg" />
<figcaption>Jordan King is quietly becoming one of the best distributors in Marquette history. | Tim Aylen/Marquette University</figcaption>
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<p>How far up the chart can Jordan King get as she starts her fifth season in 5th place?</p> <p id="5uRUwz">By now, you should be more than familiar with <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/11/7/18072334/marquette-golden-eagles-athletics-statistics-leaderboards"><strong>our series of regularly updating leaderboards</strong></a> for various <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette Golden Eagles</a> sports accomplishments. Keep checking back to that link in the previous sentence for our charts as the seasons continue to churn through history and MU’s various teams continue to create new memories and accomplishments.</p>
<p id="WgvN7A">Here, we’re going to talk about the Marquette women’s basketball’s all-time assists record and the top 14 and who’s approaching it.</p>
<p id="nIdEfn">As has been the case since 2006, Carolyn Kieger is MU’s all-time assists leader. She put up 694 assists in four seasons to knock Joan Pitrof off the top of the podium for the first time since 1990. I always thought that one of the most fascinating parts of Kieger’s five years in charge of MU women’s hoops is how she came up with an incredibly dynamic offense that generated assists left, right, and center..... but prevented anyone from challenging her career record. Four of Kieger’s four-year stars ended up in the top 10 all-time, led by Amani Wilborn at 473, but no one came any closer than that. If Kieger’s offensive design had led to a more centralized distribution figure, you’d have to presume that someone could have come close to 700 assists. After all, Wilborn, Natisha Hiedeman, and Danielle King are 6-7-8 all time in program history now with a total of 1,367 assists while playing together, and Allazia Blockton chipped in 366 more.</p>
<p id="7cSOn9">One of the reasons why that trio is at 6-7-8 all time is because Jordan King passed them last year. She dished out 127 helpers in her fourth season of eligibility to go from #14 all time at the start of 2022-23 to #5 all time at the end of the season. She’s back for a fifth and bonus year of eligibility due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s not impossible that she catches Kieger and breaks her record. Through four games of 2023-24 as I write this on Black Friday morning, King has 493 career assists. Her single season best was 149 assists as a junior, and finding 50-plus more assists in a 30-something game isn’t terribly complicated, but it is approaching nearly two more per game.</p>
<p id="SLDAnu">King averaged 4.4 assists per game that year, so we’re talking about 6.5 per game or so as the number that she would need to catch Kieger’s record. With a little bit of extra steam on the pace of play, that’s not necessarily impossible for King.... but through four games, it’s certainly unlikely. She’s only averaging 2.8 assists per game right now, and if that holds, it will be a career low for her. Rose Nkumu’s assists are way up so far this year, so that’s part of it. With scoring options around her like Frannie Hottinger and the emerging Kenzie Hare, it’s possible that King could pick up the pace as the season goes along, especially if she gets her minutes per game back up into the 30s from the current 25.0 per contest.</p>
<p id="sU016J">In any case, finishing third all time is definitely on the table for King. Joan Pitrof’s old career record is just five behind Kieger, so maybe that’s out of reach too. However, Angel Robinson is just 77 assists away right now at 570 in third place, four ahead of Lori Goerlitz. As such, King’s not going to move very much on this list as the season goes along, but it definitely feels like she’ll get to Robinson at some point this year. </p>
<p id="8hO0D5">Here’s the all-time list as it stands after the Big East semifinals game against UConn.</p>
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https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/6/24/17388204/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-all-time-assists-chartBrewtown Andy2023-11-24T07:03:11-06:002023-11-24T07:03:11-06:00The Marquette Women’s Basketball All-Time Rebounding Chart
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<img alt="COLLEGE BASKETBALL: MAR 06 Big East Women’s Tournament - Marquette v UConn" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gzWlEedz3NtyxBYXETXlx18rcSE=/0x0:3900x2600/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60004849/1238989299.14.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Will Liza Karlen get into the top 15? Is the top 10 possible?</p> <p id="5uRUwz">By now, you should be more than familiar with <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/11/7/18072334/marquette-golden-eagles-athletics-statistics-leaderboards"><strong>our series of regularly updating leaderboards</strong></a> for various <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette Golden Eagles</a> sports accomplishments. Keep checking back to that link in the previous sentence for our charts as the seasons continue to churn through history and MU’s various teams continue to create new memories and accomplishments.</p>
<p id="WgvN7A">Here, we’re going to talk about the Marquette women’s basketball’s all-time rebounding record as well as who is approaching the top 15 all time.</p>
<p id="ZJlMM6">MU’s all time leading rebounder is Abbie Willenborg, who hauled in 1,167 rebounds in her four year career back in the late 1990s to best Julie Sievers’ record. Erika Davenport could have taken a run at toppling Willenborg in 2019, but a senior year season ending injury stopped her just 127 rebounds short of a new record. She did end up as just the fourth woman to ever record 1,000 career rebounds for Marquette, and that’s pretty impressive.</p>
<p id="H0tfow">We’re not watching anyone approach Willenborg this season, nor even approaching Davenport or that 1,000 rebound barrier. However, it is time to take a look at Liza Karlen in her fourth year of eligibility to see how she’s doing relative to Marquette’s top 15 all-time.</p>
<p id="HiQA5o">Karlen wrapped up her junior year with 505 career rebounds, which is pretty good all on its own, and definitely good for three years of competition, particularly since she missed time with a broken jaw in 2022-23. Through four games in 2023-24 as I write this on Black Friday morning, Karlen has added 29 rebounds to her career total to bring her up to 534 for her career. </p>
<p id="hLHMr1">To be clear, that’s nowhere near Danielle Kamm’s 671, which currently stands as the 15th best total in program history. However, at 7.3 rebounds per game, Karlen is on track to mirror the 7.2 and 7.4 per game average she had the past two years. Tack on another 200-ish rebounds to get to the 245 total she had in 2021-22 when she was healthy the whole year? Hey, look at that, she’s up into the 700s, well past Kamm, and probably past Sarina Simmons, too. </p>
<p id="PeQdhx">Mary Spellacy and Christina Quaye at #13 and #12 are clearly within shouting distance for Karlen. If she wants to go past that — and I don’t know if Lauren Van Kleunen’s 802 in 10th place is really within grasp anyway — she’s probably going to have to start averaging 10 rebounds a game. That’s within reason if Marquette picks up the pace a little bit as shots = rebounds.</p>
<p id="VRP0p3">There’s also the question of Karlen’s potential bonus year of eligibility due to COVID-19 relief from the NCAA. If she does come back for another campaign, depending on how this year goes, 1,000 career rebounds could be possible. But that’s a question for next fall.....</p>
<p id="mKFpYw">Here’s the list as it stands after the Big East semifinal game against UConn.</p>
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https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/6/8/17388148/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-all-time-rebounding-chartBrewtown Andy2023-11-24T06:45:46-06:002023-11-24T06:45:46-06:00The Marquette Women’s Basketball All-Time Scoring Chart
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<img alt="Marquette guard Jordan King" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/g2RMpLglIJrg9cJ0U9ctyRnaA24=/0x71:2306x1608/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59948449/usa_today_19516677.9.jpg" />
<figcaption>Jordan King is climbing the all-time scoring chart. | Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK</figcaption>
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<p>Jordan King is back for a fifth season of eligibility and she’s already into the top 15.</p> <p id="5uRUwz">By now, you should be more than familiar with <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/11/7/18072334/marquette-golden-eagles-athletics-statistics-leaderboards"><strong>our series of regularly updating leaderboards</strong></a> for various <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette Golden Eagles</a> sports accomplishments. Keep checking back to that link in the previous sentence for our charts as the seasons continue to churn through history and MU’s various teams continue to create new memories and accomplishments.</p>
<p id="WgvN7A">Here, we’re going to talk about the Marquette women’s basketball all-time scoring record as well as those women who have managed to clear 1,000 career points and those who are chasing that tippy top list.</p>
<p id="TdfNVZ">We knew Jordan King was returning for her fifth season of eligibility while her fourth season was still going on. She wrapped up 2022-23 as the #16 scorer in Marquette women’s basketball history. We’re updating this four games into the 2023-24 season, Black Friday morning if you want to be specific about it, and King has already tacked on 36 points to her scoring total. That was enough to jump Amani Wilborn into 15th place.</p>
<p id="pNk2Ui">Yes, this is King’s fifth season of eligibility. Yes, she’s already made 128 appearances in a Marquette uniform as we write this, which means if she plays against Boston College this afternoon, she’ll tie Sarina Simmons and Krystal Ellis for the 10th most games played in a Marquette career. Is it unfair that she gets to keep ascending the list? Maybe, but two things. One: That’s life, and Two: King probably can’t come anywhere near Allazia Blockton’s scoring record. </p>
<p id="kwofyY">Jordan King is still, even on the verge of the 10th most games played in program history, nearly 800 points short of Blockton’s career record. King scored a career best 510 points last season. The record is safe, barring King breaking Blockton’s single season scoring record of 648 points and then going sailing beyond past it. Merely hitting the single season scoring record would still get her past Krystal Ellis in second place on the scoring list <em>and</em> make King the second 2,000 point scorer in program history.... but it would also require her to score 150 more points than she scored last season. Could she turn into a 20 point per game scorer and average that for the entire rest of the season? Sure, it’s possible, but given Marquette’s entire style and the other options around her on the floor, I don’t think it’s likely. </p>
<p id="MowD4I">Repeating last year’s scoring total would land King just barely short of Natisha Hiedeman and in fourth place on Marquette’s scoring chart. That’s still one hell of a career and one hell of a one year ascent if she goes from 16th to 4th by the time the season ends in the spring.</p>
<p id="bDME26">We’re also going to keep track of where Liza Karlen is on the all-time chart. After averaging 16.3 points in Marquette’s first four games of the season, Karlen has tacked on 65 points to her career total. That brings her up to 794 points in her career. She averaged 10.2 and 11.4 points per game in the last two campaigns, and ultimately landing there in her scoring averages would make Karlen Marquette’s 34th 1,000 point scorer at the end of the year. If she keeps the average north of 16 per game? She could be in the top 25 all-time if that’s what comes together for her.</p>
<p id="mids9Y">Here’s the list as it stands after the Big East semifinals game against UConn.</p>
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https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018/6/4/17372956/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-all-time-scoring-chartBrewtown Andy2020-11-27T09:30:00-06:002020-11-27T09:30:00-06:002020-21 WBB Season Preview: The Returning Players
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<img alt="NCAA Womens Basketball: Big East Conference Tournament-Marquette vs St. John" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hGjQgfruOuAwf1CULx95C0fqLKQ=/0x0:4100x2733/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67989764/usa_today_14160638.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>What will we get to see from Camryn Taylor this season? | David Banks-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Megan Duffy has a deep roster of returners back from last season’s highly successful squad.</p> <p id="Qbl0Xo">Have you had a chance to read through our rundown of the <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette Golden Eagles</a> women’s basketball newcomers? <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2020/11/26/21612857/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-preview-karlen-okosun-walker-middleton-nkumu">You should do that</a>! It’s Part A of our look at Megan Duffy’s roster for the 2020-21 season, and you’re currently looking at Part B. You should always start with Part A before you read Part B.</p>
<p id="QIOIUR">We’re moving on to the names you recognize from last season in this article, and we’re going to start with the seniors and work downwards to the younger players from there.</p>
<h1 id="5f0Hyf">THE SENIORS</h1>
<h2 id="Mplw7n">Selena Lott</h2>
<h3 id="cqYLzN">#24 - Guard - 5’11” - Troy, New York</h3>
<p id="nGDxsY"><strong>15.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 5.6 assists; 53%/35%/78% shooting splits</strong></p>
<p id="cCdzam">I’d like to make the case that Selena Lott is the player on the Marquette roster most hurt by the reappearance of Connecticut in the <a href="https://www.bigeastcoastbias.com">Big East</a>. Lott was one of five non-Huskies named as a unanimous choice to the preseason all-Big East team. As such, there is a chance, had <a href="https://www.theuconnblog.com">UConn</a> remained consigned to the American Athletic Conference this season, that Lott could have been preseason Player of the Year. Without Connecticut around, the doorway would easily be there for Lott to push herself into position for the postseason variation of that award. I mean, sure, there’s a <em>chance</em> that Lott could get there anyway this year, but with three Huskies earning preseason all-league awards as they prepare to challenge for another national championship, it feels like it’s a sliver of a chance instead of an actual battle.</p>
<p id="XDEoRQ">Still, she’s going to be one of the best players in the league, and arguably one of the best seniors in the country this season. That’s not nothing. As we talked about when discussing the freshmen previously, the depth behind Lott is improved. Hopefully that means that she doesn’t need to do as much for the Golden Eagles as she did last year. While playing over 34 minutes a night, Lott still ranked #35 in the country in points per scoring attempt according to Her Hoop Stats, and she posted the 65th best effective field goal percentage in the nation. Lott’s assist rate was top 50, her steal rate was top 500, and in a brand new addition to the HHS family, we know that she was #49 in the country in Win Shares. </p>
<p id="wTB1Jn">And yet, as great as she was, because of the limitations of the Marquette roster a year ago, teams were still able to isolate her out of the game. That’s exactly what Seton Hall did in South Orange in early February last year, as lot played over 38 minutes, but only went 1-for-4 from the field. SHU’s faceguarding resulted in no assists and four turnovers as well as a 72-60 Pirate victory.</p>
<p id="nCKKqy">I don’t think Lott herself can play much better than she did last year. But with more experience in last year’s freshmen/the current sophomores and added talent in the incoming freshmen, I think Lott can have a bigger impact. Between getting to play a little less and thus be a little fresher and getting to give some of the responsibility to other people, Lott can be even better this year.</p>
<h2 id="o68plI">Lauren Van Kleunen</h2>
<h3 id="mPU7ju">#42 - Forward - 6’2” - Mason, Ohio</h3>
<p id="ZIMTyV"><strong>11.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists; 51%/20%/80% shooting splits</strong></p>
<p id="1wotTA">We can’t officially say that 2019-20 was a big breakout for Lauren Van Kleunen. I mean, it’s impossible say “breakout” for a woman who went for 23 and 8 in her first collegiate game. However, it was all downhill from there for LVK in her first two years under Carolyn Kieger for whatever insane reason. She averaged under 16 minutes per game in her first two seasons and while she definitely busted her ass when she was on the court, we never really saw all that much of her.</p>
<p id="q9y8Fe">That changed with Megan Duffy taking the reins last year. With four talented forwards on the roster, Duffy made scoring inside and rebounding a major focus of the team and the Ohio native was the second biggest beneficiary of that style behind Altia Anderson. Van Kleunen started in 30 of 32 games, averaged over 25 minutes a night, and posted career bests in points, rebounds, assists, and shooting percentage. While Kieger seemed to want to engage Van Kleunen as more of a guard and wing player, Duffy sent her to the area in and around the paint and it paid off in a big way. Gone (well, almost completely gone) was the career 24% three-point shooting, and Van Kleunen repaid Duffy’s faith in her by becoming a top 250 offensive rebounder and using her athleticism and physique to dominate opposing players.</p>
<p id="y7cKzq">What’s in stock for this season? Well, more of the same. Perhaps a little bit more, as Marquette will have to figure out what to do without Anderson’s athletic presence on the court. With two freshmen competing to take up Anderson’s minutes, Van Kleunen might have to do some of it until Liza Karlen and Julianna Okosun get their feet wet and the coaching staff starts feeling comfortable giving them responsibility. That’s not the worst thing in the world, given her efficiency (#304 in points per possession) in her minutes last season and the fact that she was averaging 25.5 minutes per game while not committing very many fouls. As long as the efficiency stays up while the minutes go up and thus also the fatigue, then that’s a winning combination for Marquette until the new kids are comfortable in their roles.</p>
<h1 id="B1GFme">THE JUNIOR</h1>
<h2 id="Zuhy2V">Chloe Marotta</h2>
<h3 id="AXMbEa">#52 - Forward - 6’1” - Mequon, Wisconsin</h3>
<p id="g0Xslj"><strong>4.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists; 41%/33%/69% shooting splits</strong></p>
<p id="D6T48y">Marotta was the one who suffered last year as Megan Duffy realized what she had in Altia Anderson. Marotta started in Marquette’s first 13 games and she played more than 20 minutes in eight of those contests. As Anderson started demanding more and more playing time because of her impact on the floor, Marotta started coming off the bench, and her minutes kept dropping from there. By the end of the year, she still played in all 32 games, but only ended up averaging 17 minutes a night.</p>
<p id="j2CPOQ">That’s fine. When the senior is making big plays, the sophomore has to take the back seat. Marotta still managed to make a contribution, as it was the four woman rotation with Anderson, Lauren Van Kleunen, and Camryn Taylor that made Marquette so dangerous on the glass last season. Marotta was a big part of that, as she ranked #120 in the country per Her Hoop Stats in offensive rebounding rate and #339 in defensive rebounding rate. With Altia Anderson gone, that means that, much like the case is for LVK, Marotta is going to need to step up and play some big minutes until the freshmen get settled. If that doesn’t happen, then it might mean that it’s a three woman rotation at the 4 and 5 on the floor. That will prrrrrrobably work out okay, but it’s going to require some very careful play from Marotta to make sure she can stay on the floor, too. Marotta fouled out three times last season and ranked in the bottom 20% of the country in foul rate. At least to start the season — and this is important with Big East play starting in Game #3 of the year — Marotta is going to have to pull her end of the deal.</p>
<h1 id="6DBPJN">THE SOPHOMORES</h1>
<h2 id="Wr6Bm3">Jordan King</h2>
<h3 id="opIoQm">#23 - Guard - 5’11” - Rockton, Illinois</h3>
<p id="iUe8dk"><strong>8.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists; 35%/27%/73% shooting splits</strong></p>
<p id="6uUWU6">The good news is that 8/3/3 is a pretty good stat line for a freshman. The bad news is that Jordan King was voted preseason Freshman of the Year before last season and while <a href="https://www.vuhoops.com">Villanova</a>’s Maddy Siegrist was the clear winner of the postseason iteration of that award, King never came close to that. In fact, she didn’t even make the Big East’s All-Freshman team at the end of the season. A lot of that has to do with there’s a lot of freshmen to pick from, sure, but that 35% shooting from the field and 27% shooting from long range didn’t do King any favors, either.</p>
<p id="Pse01o">Look, when the worst thing you can say about someone is that they didn’t have a shot at Freshman of the Year, that’s not actually a problem. King was fine last year if you throw out the preseason expectation. Yes, the shooting’s a problem, but at the end of the day, it didn’t really affect Marquette all that much since the Golden Eagles were still headed to the NCAA tournament anyway. King clearly has the trust of the coaching staff, because if she didn’t, she wouldn’t have been logging 30-plus minutes in Marquette’s three <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/big-east-basketball-tournament">Big East tournament</a> games last season. That hadn’t been the case two weeks earlier when she was under 20 minutes against Butler and Villanova, so you can see that was more circumstantial than anything else.</p>
<p id="3lRipS">There’s still clearly a major role on this team for King this season, especially with the departure of Isabelle Spingola from the wing. Not entirely unlike last year, Marquette needs experienced hands out there with four freshmen and just three upperclasswomen. That’s King. But she has to be better. She’s going to need to take more shots this season, and that means she absolutely has to finish more of them. If Marquette is going to play through the interior again this season, King needs to be able to present a threat on the floor to stretch the floor. If she continues to shoot 27% from long range, teams are going to know to not respect the shot at this point, and that’s going to create problems for the Golden Eagles to do what they can do best.</p>
<h2 id="D8CFrt">Claire Kaifes</h2>
<h3 id="JRp1cx">#10 - Guard - 5’11” - Shawnee, Kansas</h3>
<p id="0T9EP7"><strong>1.0 points, 1.4 rebounds, 0.6 assists; 28%/15%/83% shooting splits</strong></p>
<p id="kFgKV6">With 24 appearances on the year, Claire Kaifes appeared in a game more often than not for the Golden Eagles last season. However, I think we can safely say that her impact on the squad was minimal at best, as she finished the year with a total of 201 minutes played, 25 points scored, and 34 rebounds gathered. Her minutes were on the rise as the season went on, though, and that’s good news for the Kansas native. </p>
<p id="cyQj6L">I don’t know exactly what role there is for her on the team this season, as Kaifes wasn’t asked to do anything in particular for Marquette while on the floor last year. There’s minutes to fill in the wake of Isabelle Spingola’s departure, but that job absolutely requires the ability to shoot the ball. Kaifes missed her final four attempts of the season, and while that sounds like a ridiculous criticism, those four attempts were spread over nine games after February 2nd. Again, she wasn’t asked to carry an offensive load for Megan Duffy’s team, but she also didn’t demonstrate the potential to be able to pick up one side of the pallet, either.</p>
<p id="hYWVXM">Can she? Sure, maybe! Is she going to be in a fight for minutes with two of her classmates and both freshman guards? Almost assuredly.</p>
<h2 id="cwqnhp">Nirel Lougbo</h2>
<h3 id="4DYrXa">#1 - Guard - 5’10” - North Andover, Massachusetts</h3>
<p id="hBbPy4"><strong>1.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists; 37%/25%/31% shooting splits</strong></p>
<p id="ElILlN">If you appear in all 32 games and average 14 minutes per game as a freshman, you’re doing pretty good. That was Nirel Lougbo’s season last year, and she adeptly carried the minutes behind Selena Lott and Jordan King in the backcourt last season. </p>
<p id="nbxaG0">It also wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops as you can see from her shooting numbers. She also turned the ball over way way waaaaay too much, posting a rate of 38.2%. Literally in the bottom 1% of the country. Not good.</p>
<p id="jILsk2">But this is Year #2, and Lougbo’s turnover rate was actually down during league play last year. Not much, just 36.6% instead of north of 38%, but down is down, so we’ll take what we get. I’m also slightly concerned that “take what we get” may be the extent of what Lougbo can offer the squad. Sure, much like Claire Kaifes, Lougbo wasn’t asked to do much for the Golden Eagles last season. Also like Kaifes, Lougbo didn’t show all that much either. She averaged 14 minutes a game but didn’t even get to two shot attempts per game, not even during conference play. It’s hard to make statements about what you see coming from a player in a new season when there wasn’t much going on other than chewing minutes to give teammates a break the year prior. With Rose Nkumu on deck to play some point guard minutes this year, Lougbo is going to have to carve out a niche that’s bigger than just “can cover someone’s shift on a moment’s notice.”</p>
<h2 id="kX1Zqa">Camryn Taylor</h2>
<h3 id="s0gLPg">#15 - Forward - 6’2” - Peoria, Illinois</h3>
<p id="ra27hw"><strong>9.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.7 assists; 53%/NA/63% shooting splits</strong></p>
<p id="jVhi8I">I’m sorry, I mislabeled this category. This is BUDDING FAN FAVORITE Camryn Taylor we’re talking about here. I’m still shocked that she wasn’t a unanimous choice for the Big East’s all-freshman team.</p>
<p id="X0z624">Taylor was the big surprise in the four-headed monster that Marquette deployed in the post last season. Lauren Van Kleunen was the player who got a chance to play a bigger role, while it was fun to see Altia Anderson actually get a chance to show what she do on the floor and Chloe Marotta was mostly filling in time around the other two. Taylor, though, was the freshman of the four, and quite honestly, the whole experiment doesn’t work if she doesn’t do what she did. The 9.3 points per game were actually fourth best on the team trailing only Van Kleunen, Selena Lott, and Isabelle Spingola. I’m kind of surprised at how low the rebounding total is, but I think I have an explanation there. Taylor ranked #327 in the country in offensive rebounding rate per Her Hoop Stats last season, so since I remember all the powerful putbacks from the Peoria native, I remember a lot of her rebounds. </p>
<p id="P5w7iV">She was also quietly good at other things, too. HHS has Taylor in the top 500 in block rate, which speaks to her defensive abilities, but she’s also top 500 in turnover rate. When you’ve got a freshman big mixing it up inside and not coughing it up much even with a top 200 usage rate, then you’ve got something you can work with going forward. I don’t know if Megan Duffy is quite ready to start running offense through Taylor, but her athletic gifts suggest that she’ll be able to contribute in more ways that just cleaning glass and doing the other dirty work on the inside. I’m greatly looking forward to what Taylor has on tap for Year Two.</p>
<h2 id="KhX2ZH">Taylor Valladay</h2>
<h3 id="NeCmbo">#5 - Guard - 5’7” - Chicago, Illinois</h3>
<p id="f9bgnT"><strong>0.7 points, 0.7 rebounds, 0.3 assists; 60%/33%/25% shooting splits</strong></p>
<p id="0nX37M">Given that Taylor Valladay lost her senior season of high school to a knee injury and that she spent 2019-20 in a knee brace while on the court for Marquette, it’s not surprising that she didn’t have much of an impact on the team as a freshman. Valladay saw action in just 20 games, and only cleared nine minutes played in two of them: A 78-56 win over Milwaukee and a 61-47 loss at Villanova. She was mostly around for spot minutes here and there, and that’s fine.</p>
<p id="Rz4Ykr">What to expect from this year? No idea! I’ve said a million times already that Marquette does need to figure out how to fill Isabelle Spingola’s minutes, but Valladay seems to figure as more of a point guard type than a wing. Can she take a step forward and allow Selena Lott and/or Jordan King to shift to more of a wing spot? Can Valladay stay in front of freshman Rose Nkumu on the depth chart? There’s nothing but questions to be asked here as well as unrealized potential after just 86 minutes of action a year ago.</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2020/11/27/21721161/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-preview-lott-van-kleunen-king-lougbo-taylor-marottaBrewtown Andy2020-11-26T10:15:00-06:002020-11-26T10:15:00-06:002020-21 WBB Season Preview: The Newcomers
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<img alt="COLLEGE BASKETBALL: JAN 21 St John’s at Marquette" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/h3EwMkEIbFuWJSurfqdR7CU1Sdo=/0x0:4116x2744/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67986972/1195286885.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Four freshmen and a newly eligible transfer will suit up for the first time for the Golden Eagles this season.</p> <p id="5MkuBy">Hey! The 2020-21 college basketball season <em>can</em> start today, but for <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette</a> women’s basketball, things don’t get started until Sunday. That’s good news for us here at Anonymous Eagle because it has given us some extra time to put together some season preview things for you! If you haven’t looked at the <a href="https://www.bigeastcoastbias.com">Big East</a> team previews already, <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2020/11/5/21548792/big-east-womens-basketball-team-previews-connecticut-uconn-depaul-creighton-seton-hall-butler">run yourself over here</a> and check those out.</p>
<p id="KFg2YH">We turn our attention to Marquette now, and we have to break up Megan Duffy’s roster somehow. We will start with a look at the newcomers on the roster, which includes the four freshmen who will be making their collegiate debut this season and the newly eligible transfer who sat out last season during Duffy’s first year in charge. In fact, just because she’s already familiar with the system, we’ll start with the transfer and move on from there.......</p>
<h1 id="OwwvzL">Antwainette Walker</h1>
<h2 id="g6HcGK">Redshirt Sophomore - #4 - Guard - 5’11” - Lisle, Illinois</h2>
<p id="RUA6dQ">Walker comes to Marquette after a year at Arkansas-Little Rock. The Illinois native appeared in 21 of 32 games as a freshman for the Trojans, but her contributions were muted. She averaged just 2.2 points and 1.4 rebounds per game while playing only 5.8 minutes per outing. Coming out of St. Francis High School in Wheaton, IL, Walker was a three star prospect according to what <a href="https://lrtrojans.com/news/2017/11/10/womens-basketball-trojans-sign-walker-in-early-signing-period.aspx?path=wbball"><strong>her signing announcement</strong></a> at UALR says. Through her junior year at St. Francis, she averaged 17.3 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 3.7 steals per game, and in her 2018 summer of club play, she averaged 13.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.7 steals. As a senior at St. Francis, Walker averaged 20.0 points, 9.9 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and 2.1 steals per game while the team went 14-14 <a href="https://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/st-francis-spartans-(wheaton,il)/girls-basketball-winter-17-18/stats.htm"><strong>according to Max Preps</strong></a>. </p>
<p id="646zF5">I’m not going to take a whole lot away from Walker not playing much for Little Rock in her one year there, as that was a pretty good Trojans squad. They went 21-11, won the Sun Belt regular season and tournament titles, and made the NCAA tournament as a #12 seed. That trip in 2019 was their sixth since 2010, so that does lend a certain amount of credibility to the Trojans staff identifying Walker as a player that could have contributed to their future.</p>
<p id="fcwt7W">At Marquette, Walker will join a loaded up backcourt. In fact, she’s now part of the sophomore class that includes last year’s four freshman guards that return for 2020-21. Competition for playing time for the next three seasons will be pretty stiff, particularly this season with Selena Lott occupying as many backcourt minutes as she wants. Still, with Isabelle Spingola gone to a pro career in Switzerland, there are guard/wing minutes from last year that are now available. From her prep stats, it seems like Walker is more of a shooting guard than a point guard (look at the low/lack of mention of assists) so that does point to the possibility that she can help fill Spingola’s spot.</p>
<p id="cAD3Yr">The other big thing that she might be able to contribute is shooting. Yes, I know, <em>VERY</em> small sample size, but Walker went 2-for-5 from long range for UALR in 2018-19, and 40% would definitely work out okay. With that said, those Max Preps stats I linked to a minute ago from her senior year had her going 10-for-40 (25%) in 23 games. Since she was leading the team in scoring and not shooting very many threes, it certainly seems like something that she’s not comfortable with, or at least wasn’t. Last year, Spingola took 41% of Marquette’s long range attempts, and no one other than Lott and Jordan King even pretended to look at the rim from outside the arc. While MU was an exceptional rebounding team and worked well inside, a more versatile shooting department might open things up even more. If Walker’s shot has improved in her year away from active status, that’s an easy way for her to push her way past her teammates and onto the floor.</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="fwn8aV">
<h1 id="HnFXyK">THE FRESHMEN</h1>
<h2 id="Xe8QZN">Liza Karlen</h2>
<h3 id="ZqbzNJ">Freshman - #32 - Forward - 6’2” - St. Paul, Minnesota</h3>
<h2 id="9MlvAj">Julianna Okosun</h2>
<h3 id="yew6PI">Freshman - #0 - Forward - 6’4” - Copenhagen, Denmark</h3>
<p id="ZSEYjy">I was going to sort the freshmen by alphabetical order and talk about them each individually, but then I realized that when it comes to Liza Karlen (#187 in the class <a href="https://www.bluestarbb.com/commitment_school.php?division=8&sID=222&bpYearOfGraduation=2020&x=46&y=14">according to Blue Star</a>) and Julianna Okosun, we’re going to talk about a lot of the same things. Thus, why not combine the two instead of repeating myself. </p>
<p id="v3KEH1">As the two new forwards on the roster, Karlen and Okosun will be called on to fill in the space left behind by Altia Anderson’s graduation. The Delaware native went out with a bang last season, posting 7.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.5 blocks per game in just under 21 minutes per appearance. Had Marquette gotten the chance to play in the NCAA tournament, Anderson might have gotten the five blocks that she needed to break MU’s single season record. While Lauren Van Kleunen, Chloe Marotta, and Camryn Taylor all return from Marquette’s four-headed inside monster last season, Anderson’s multi-dimensional athleticism helped the whole thing run. Karlen and Okosun are going to have to step in — one or the other? Both of them splitting it? — and pick up the slack left behind by Anderson’s departure. </p>
<p id="BrobaP">Karlen may be the more interesting prospect of the two. If you glance at her Marquette bio, you get the general standard forward notes in there. Over 2,000 points and 1,200 rebounds in her career, two sectional titles in her final two seasons, first ever state title game appearance in school history, 16.8 points and 10.2 rebounds as a senior, blah blah blah, you get the picture. However, as we talked about <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2019/6/22/18700540/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-recruiting-commit-commitment-liza-karlen#510781259">when Karlen committed to Marquette in June 2019,</a> she’s not just an inside player. She also averaged 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game as a junior, and she shot nearly 43% from long range that year, too. <a href="https://www.mngirlsbasketballhub.com/roster_players/37560350?subseason=651306">The Star Tribune’s Basketball Hub</a> has her at 2.0 assists and 1.9 steals as a senior, but unfortunately only 29% from long range. Still, that 43% is in there somewhere, and if Karlen can go inside and outside, that adds a dimension to the Golden Eagles that they didn’t have a year ago.</p>
<p id="lTSny6">Okosun is perhaps more of a mystery just because she comes over to Marquette from Denmark. Obviously, things in terms of athletic development in Europe are wildly different than they are in the States, so we don’t have the high school and club details for Okosun that we do for Marquette’s other prospects. However, we do have <a href="http://Eurobasket.com">Eurobasket.com</a>, and that’s pretty helpful. <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2019/9/25/20878845/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-recruiting-julianna-okosun-verbal-commitment">In 2018-19</a>, she averaged 13.9 points and 8.6 rebounds in 17 games for Vaerlose, her club in Denmark. <a href="https://basketball.eurobasket.com/team/Denmark/Vaerlose-Blue-Hawks/10347?Page=3">Next year</a>, she went for 11.6 points and 9.4 rebounds in about 20 minutes per game in 16 appearances while leading Vaerlose in field goal attempts. This is pretty good stuff. <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2019/9/25/20878845/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-recruiting-julianna-okosun-verbal-commitment">In the 2018 FIBA U18 Women’s European Division B Championship</a>, Okosun averaged 9.4 points and 9.9 rebounds in Denmark’s eight games, posting the fifth best rebounding average in the entire tournament and landing in second place in scoring on her own team. Having someone who is very good on an international level on your college basketball team seems like a very good thing.</p>
<p id="SX325g">Okosun is more of a traditional in the middle player at least on offense, as evidenced by her general lack of attempting to shoot threes. We’ll see if that’s something she can do or if Duffy and her staff even want her to try for that matter. At 6’4”, she’s the tallest player on the team by two inches over Van Kleunen, Taylor, and Karlen, so that gives her an advantage that no one else has. If Marquette bumps up against biggest posts as the season goes along, even if Karlen is getting more of Anderson’s minutes, Okosun might be pressed into service to take advantage of her extra height. </p>
<h2 id="ZWujJh">Danyel Middleton</h2>
<h3 id="DlAiGs">Freshman - #25 - Guard - 5’10” - Chicago, Illinois</h3>
<h2 id="DPR0Wc">Rose Nkumu</h2>
<h3 id="T0ApXv">Freshman - #3 - Guard - 5’7” - Iowa City, Iowa</h3>
<p id="tSKoXw">That brings us to a discussion of Megan Duffy’s two freshmen guards. Blue Star has both women noted as top 150 prospects, so it stands to reason that both Middleton (#141) and Nkumu (#146) could find a way to contribute immediately this season. The thing standing in their way, of course, is that Selena Lott and Jordan King figure to play big roles in the backcourt for the Golden Eagles. The good news is that Marquette may benefit from having players able to pull minutes away from Lott and King. Lott was one of the most efficient players in the country a year ago, but she was playing over 34 minutes a night. King was asked to do a whole hell of a lot last season as a freshman and was out there for over 30 minutes a game. As the season wore on, the coaching staff started doling out minutes deeper and deeper into the bench, but having more options available can’t be a bad thing for Marquette or either of the two freshmen.</p>
<p id="2PtG4m">Nkumu is the more point guard oriented of the pair, so her minutes this season may serve as a apprenticeship to Lott for Marquette down the road. Can I interest you in someone who set Iowa City High School records for career assists and steals? Megan Duffy has been tracking Nkumu as a prospect since she was coaching at Miami, so the fact that Duffy immediately sent her an offer as soon as she got settled in at the McGuire Center tells you a lot about Nkumu’s potential. While helping to propel Iowa City to four straight conference titles and four straight state tournament appearances, <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2019/6/19/18691273/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-recruiting-scholarship-rose-nkumu-commitment">Nkumu averaged 19.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 3.7 steals as a junior</a>. For an encore, Nkumu <a href="https://twitter.com/jtlinder/status/1240649122513813507">followed that up with</a> 14.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 4.0 steals as Iowa City reached the 5A state semifinals. If Nkumu can get those hands active on defense at the Division 1 level, that will help her earn minutes, and if she’s helping the offense stay efficient with Lott taking a breather, all the better.</p>
<p id="1OFmMi">Unfortunately, I can’t get you a lot of information about Danyel Middleton in terms of telling you about stats that she compiled in high school or on the club circuit. I wasn’t able to find much on her back when she committed in October of 2019, and I’m not finding anything now that’s helpful over a year later. <a href="https://www.theherald-news.com/2020/01/17/girls-basketball-red-hot-raiders-roll-past-porters/a1r6jge/">I did track down this article</a> that has a scouting report on Middleton from her coach at Bolingbrook High School:</p>
<blockquote><p id="9WJduv">“Danyel is really getting into our rhythm and flow right now, and that’s both on the offensive and the defensive ends. She really makes such a huge difference because she has that special ability offensively and defensively to affect and change the game.”</p></blockquote>
<p id="h90590">That’s coming out of a game where she scored 21 points to lead Bolingbrook to a 63-40 victory back in January 2020. As is the case for Nkumu, if Middleton can create dysfunction on defense, that’s going to help her get on the floor. With Middleton having a three inch height advantage on Nkumu, that may mean that she could be able to grab up some of the 34 minutes per game that Isabelle Spingola was occupying last year. There’s also the issue of Spingola’s outside shooting that MU needs to replicate, and if Duffy and her assistants can get shooting and defense from Middleton, that will really help her case out.</p>
<p id="ZbQphL">At worst, both Nkumu and Middleton provide Marquette with depth at guard this season and maybe give the Golden Eagles slightly different options to what they had coming off the bench last season. At best? Megan Duffy and her staff have an embarrassment of riches to sort out into a regular rotation.</p>
<p id="96gVfh"></p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2020/11/26/21612857/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-preview-karlen-okosun-walker-middleton-nkumuBrewtown Andy2020-11-21T16:30:00-06:002020-11-21T16:30:00-06:00WBB Announces 4 Non-Conference Games
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<img alt="COLLEGE BASKETBALL: MAR 01 Women’s DePaul at Marquette" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-p87mqyt0PmJnK1RncEFbVxeDt0=/0x0:2609x1739/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67840239/1204608483.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Golden Eagles aren’t starting as soon as they can, but we’re getting games before league play starts.</p> <p id="FxQqXY">It’s been three weeks since <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2020/10/30/21542592/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-big-east-december-providence-st-johns-seton-hall-xavier">the Big East announced the women’s basketball games that will take place this season before Christmas</a>. Three long weeks without <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com">Marquette</a> announcing any non-conference games between the start of the season on November 25th and the Big East opener on December 4th.</p>
<p id="Q7r78l">That changed on Friday afternoon, as the athletic department announced four non-conference contests for Megan Duffy and her squad. This season will not be a normal season with a “play all the non-conference games before all the conference games” type schedule, but hey, what the hell about 2020 says “this is going to be a normal season” anyway?</p>
<p id="Ejr2L7">I should point out that <a href="https://gomarquette.com/news/2020/11/19/womens-basketball-muwbb-releases-first-month-schedule.aspx">the press release for these games</a> is just saying that this is the schedule for between now and Christmas. It’s not specifically saying that these four games will be the only non-conference games for this season. Of course, it does say “second and final non-conference home game” and “complete its out of conference slate,” so it’s entirely possible that these four will be it for the year. Who knows?!</p>
<p id="lngXC9">Before we get into a brief overview of the four new opponents on the schedule, let’s go through the actually day by day schedule for Marquette for the eight games that they have on the board now.</p>
<p id="T3zU4I"><strong>Sunday, November 29:</strong> at <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/north-dakota-fighting-sioux">North Dakota</a>, 1pm CT<br><strong>Wednesday, December 2: </strong>vs Milwaukee, 1pm CT<br><strong>Friday, December 4:</strong> vs Providence, 2pm CT<br><strong>Friday, December 11: </strong>vs Prairie View A&M, Noon CT</p>
<p id="nz2D3T"><strong>Sunday, December 12: </strong>at Belmont, 2pm CT<br><strong>Wednesday, December 16:</strong> vs St. John’s, Time TBD<br><strong>Saturday, December 19:</strong> at Seton Hall, Noon CT<br><strong>Tuesday, December 22:</strong> at Xavier, 1pm CT</p>
<p id="a1ZrdZ">Something I didn’t realize until now relative to <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/marquette-basketball/2020/5/16/21260866/marquette-golden-eagles-athletics-sports-university-academic-calendar-changes">the adjusted academic calendar that Marquette is operating with this semester</a>: That Providence game comes in the middle of finals, not right before they start. Finals are running from the 2nd through the 9th, although obviously with a break on the weekend, as opposed to the normal Monday through Friday scheduling. Obviously, finals are a little bit different this year since everything is being done remotely, but that’s still an interesting quirk for Duffy and her staff to deal with this year.</p>
<p id="Jrtj0v">Okay, enough jibber-jabber. Time to do a surface level glance at what to expect from these four new opponents on the schedule.</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="iT0lQ1">
<h2 id="wTpmBu">North Dakota Fighting Hawks</h2>
<p id="Diq7Kc"><strong>2019-20 Record:</strong> 15-15, but only 13-15 against Division 1 foes, and a 6-10 record in the Summit League<br><strong>2019-20 Final Her Hoop Stats Ranking:</strong> #263<br><strong>Head Coach:</strong> Mallory Bernhard, more on her in a moment <br><strong>All-Time Series:</strong> This will be the first ever meeting.</p>
<p id="9difRJ">Okay, so we obviously have to start with the teased information on Mallory Bernhard. She’s been an assistant coach at UND for seven seasons and back in March, she was named interim head coach when the athletic director announced that Travis Brewster would not be returning. It doesn’t look like there’s a big mystery story there. Bernhard played at UND from 2007-11, establishing herself as one of the best shooters in program history, but she’s never been a Division 1 head coach before this season.</p>
<p id="dMbhis">While the Hawks had the kind of season that ends with your coach not being retained, Bernhard is set up well for growth from last season. North Dakota returns their top seven scorers from last season, which accounts for every woman who averaged at least six points per game in 2019-20. That’s not to say that there won’t be some growing pains, as Alaina Jarnot has departed after starting in 29 of UND’s 30 games and averaging 5.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, and a team high 3.9 assists per game. Jarnot was also North Dakota’s most accurate three-point shooter at 42.6%, which does raise many questions about why she was only scoring less than six points per game.</p>
<p id="muBxDv">North Dakota ranking #107 in the country in three-point rate does not help answer those questions, especially as the Hawks ranked #225 in three-point shooting percentage at just 30.1% as a team. That’s really bad when you have a 43% shooter, and the fact that she’s gone now doesn’t bode well. Marquette is going to have to mind their P’s and Q’s on defense, as North Dakota was a pretty good offensive rebounding team last year, and since they return most of the same crew, we can expect a lot of things like rebounding to carry over from one year to the next.</p>
<h2 id="pKF9hU"><a href="https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/wis-milwaukee-panthers">Milwaukee Panthers</a></h2>
<p id="Kq1Lrx"><strong>2019-20 Record:</strong> 15-16, with an 11-7 record in the Horizon League<br><strong>2019-20 Final Her Hoop Stats Ranking:</strong> #241<br><strong>Head Coach: </strong>Kyle Rechlicz, entering her ninth season with a record of 119-130. <br><strong>All-Time Series: </strong>Marquette leads, 31-19, and has won eight straight.</p>
<p id="bZEiFa">Last year, <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2019/12/9/21002567/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-recap-milwaukee-panthers-jordan-king">Marquette blitzed UWM over on the east side for a 78-56 win</a> where they were up 9-0 in less than three minutes and led by double digits for almost all of the second quarter onwards til the final horn. If you wanted to suspect that more of the same might be on the way this season, well, the Panthers have lost three of their top five scorers from last season.</p>
<p id="nczLBC">Of course, given that no one on the team averaged more than 10 points per game a year ago, it’s not like the three women who aren’t returning were ultra crucial to the Panthers last year. Leaders, sure, but it’s not like it’s hard to find multiple someones to average eight points a game.</p>
<p id="iApHRP">Brandi Bisping did lead the team in scoring a year ago, and she is back for her senior season now. She’s a preseason all-Horizon League Second Teamer after averaging 9.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game. As a team, UWM is picked to finish seventh in the Horizon League this season. FUN FACT: Green Bay is <em>not</em> the pick to win that league this season, which is pretty damn wild to think about.</p>
<p id="L5nE6X">UWM was a very good free throw shooting team a year ago and a very good two-point shooting team a year ago. Of course, given those two strengths, we have to question why Rechlicz had them taking 35% of their shots (47th most in the country) from behind the arc. Go to the rim! Draw fouls! It’s what you’re good at! Nope, they shot a buncha threes at a 30.1% clip, which even if it wasn’t #224 in the country, it would still be awful. </p>
<p id="v13Wip">The Panthers were the 15th best defensive rebounding team in the country last season. That’s something that was a strength for the <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/">Golden Eagles</a> a year ago as well. However, Marquette lost the services of Altia Anderson to graduation, and thus will have to rely on freshmen to take up that spot in the rotation. Will that lead to a dropoff and thus something that Milwaukee can take advantage of? We’ll see?</p>
<h2 id="u1gaa9"><a href="https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/prairie-view-panthers">Prairie View A&M Panthers</a></h2>
<p id="Q7OWLv"><strong>2019-20 Record:</strong> 9-19<br><strong>2019-20 Final Her Hoop Stats Ranking:</strong> #318<br><strong>Head Coach:</strong> Sandy Pugh, entering her third season with a record of 29-33 with PV and 269-256 overall. <br><strong>All-Time Series:</strong> Marquette leads, 1-0</p>
<p id="oSsNOQ">Katherine Plouffe’s first career 20 point game was the difference back in November 2011 as <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2011/11/26/2587802/marquette-71-prairie-view-a-m-51">Marquette beat Prairie View 71-51</a> in the only previous meeting in this series. While that 2011-12 team has almost nothing to do with last year’s team or this year’s team, I wouldn’t really expect much to change. The Panthers were not particularly good last year and they have lost four of their top six scorers. However, much like UWM, Prairie View didn’t actually do much scoring with their now departed top scorer only averaging 10.2 per contest. </p>
<p id="iYiOZ5">I am scrolling through Her Hoop Stats trying to find something nice to say about the Panthers. Here’s something: They did a pretty good job at not allowing three-pointers last year, ranking #13 in the country in defensive three-point rate. With that said, teams shot 47.6% against them on two-point attempts, and that was bottom 50 in the country. If you can get to the rim constantly and connect a whole bunch, why shoot threes? Marquette’s defense will likely have to stay on their toes, though. Prairie View ranked #54 in the country last year in assist rate, so if that carries over, then the Golden Eagles are going to have to avoid leaving people open. Then again, Tatyana Perez was #66 in the country in assist rate as a senior last season, so we will have to wait and see if the Panthers were good at that or if they were just carried by Perez being really great.</p>
<h2 id="eJ1F1n"><a href="https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/belmont-bruins">Belmont Bruins</a></h2>
<p id="2eswqy"><strong>2019-20 Record:</strong> 22-9<br><strong>2019-20 Final Her Hoop Stats Ranking: </strong>#87<br><strong>Head Coach:</strong> Bart Brooks, entering his fourth season with a record of 79-20.<br><strong>All-Time Series:</strong> Marquette leads, 1-0</p>
<p id="roGpqn">That lone previous meeting came last year as <a href="https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2019/12/22/21033797/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-recap-belmont-bruins-holy-cow-that-game-was-bad">the Golden Eagles survived a 32% shooting performance</a> to rally from down 12 to beat the Bruins, 53-51, in the McGuire Center. That game was godawful for both teams, so let’s just hope that 1) that doesn’t happen again or 2) Marquette figures out a way to adapt and survive down in Nashville this time. </p>
<p id="Ln34qe">Brooks has had very good Belmont teams in all three of his seasons running the show there, getting to the NCAA tournament in his first two seasons, although they likely would have missed out in 2020 due to a loss in the Ohio Valley semifinals. They did tie with Tennessee-Martin for the OVC regular season title at 16-2, though, so again: very good team.</p>
<p id="JU5IEK">If Belmont is going to keep that run of quality play up, though, they’re going to have to do it without three of their five starters from last season. Those three double as three of their top five scorers as well, including double-double machine Ellie Harmeyer. She averaged 19.2 points and 12.3 rebounds a year ago which means she was doing twice as much scoring and rebounding as anyone else on the roster. That’s a pretty notable loss. Jamilyn Kinney is the top returning scorer for the Bruins after averaging 8.2 points per game last season. the 5’7” guard out of Arkansas did miss six games last season, but she was back on the court by the time the OVC tournament rolled around, so there’s no reason to think she’s still worried about a lingering injury. </p>
<p id="X5nwe2">Kinney was the team’s most effective three-point shooter last season, connecting on 39.5% of her 114 attempts on the year. This is particularly notable because 1) Belmont ranked #31 in the country in three-point rate last season and 2) Belmont ranked #181 in three-point shooting percentage last season. If some of the shots that were going to Harmeyer (29.9% on 117 attempts) or Maura Muensterman (33.5% on 203 attempts) start going Kinney’s way, that could end up being beneficial to the overall team success. Then again, maybe Kinney was hitting shots because she was wide open because she was the third option in terms of overall scoring average. We’ll have to wait and see, but considering that this one is on the road, it should be a pretty good test for the Golden Eagles.</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2020/11/21/21588036/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-schedule-belmont-milwaukee-north-dakota-prairie-viewBrewtown Andy2020-11-13T09:15:00-06:002020-11-13T09:15:00-06:002020-21 Women’s Basketball Team Preview: Xavier
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<img alt="Xavier v DePaul" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OhoRqAsvDcTCmP6Hkht6lyqZCpc=/0x0:3599x2399/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67784571/906858836.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>What does A’riana Gray have in store for her senior season? | Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Will there be notable improvement from the Musketeers in Year 2 under Melanie Moore?</p> <p id="8BXzyF"><strong>Team:</strong> <a href="https://www.bannersontheparkway.com">Xavier Musketeers</a></p>
<p id="q4PQCx"><strong>2019-20 Record: </strong>3-27, 2-16 in the <a href="https://www.bigeastcoastbias.com">Big East</a></p>
<p id="epeP5V"><strong>2019-20 Big East Finish: </strong>Tied for ninth place, which is also a tie for last place. By way of losing tiebreakers, they ended up with the 10th seed in the <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/big-east-basketball-tournament">Big East tournament</a>.</p>
<p id="JgfTq0"><strong>Final 2019-20 Her Hoop Stats Ranking:</strong> #253</p>
<p id="qp7hUJ"><strong>Postseason Projection:</strong> Lol, nope</p>
<p id="9xRsTL"><strong>Key Departures: </strong>Forget Key Departures, Xavier has just one departure from last season. <strong>Ashley Gomez</strong> appeared in 28 of 30 games last year for the <a href="https://www.bannersontheparkway.com/">Musketeers</a>, including two starts. At just 8.9 minutes per game, she didn’t have much of an impact on the season in terms of stats.</p>
<p id="l51lfr"><strong>Key Returners:</strong> Can I interest you in a team that brings back all of their nine top scorers from a year ago? We can phrase that a little bit differently, if you want. Nine women averaged at least 15 minutes per game last season for Xavier, and all nine return for the 2020-21 campaign. That seems like pretty good news. </p>
<p id="PQCzGB">The big three are <strong>A’riana Gray</strong>, <strong>Aaliyah Dunham</strong>, and <strong>Lauren Wasylson</strong>, as they all started at least 25 times last season. If you want, you could even toss <strong>Ayanna Townsend</strong> into that mix there, as she appeared in all 30 games and started 21 times. All told, that’s an incredible amount of returning playing time, as well as experience playing together.</p>
<p id="t465GX">Gray led the team in scoring a year ago at 15.8 points per game, and her 9.3 rebounds were tops on the roster as well. She was the only player to average more than nine points and more than five rebounds per game. As was the case last year, the pathway to shutting down the Musketeers runs through taking the 6’0” Gray out of the picture. </p>
<p id="2Sc2g6">Dunham was third on the squad in scoring at 7.5 per game, but she led Xavier in assists at 4.5 per game. Dunham was one of four women to play in all 30 games last season, but the only one who started in all 30 contests. Wasylson was Xavier’s most likely shooter, as she led the team in long range attempts at 142 on the year and only took 188 shots in total all season. She only hit on 31% of those, so generally speaking that’s not actually helpful.</p>
<p id="CjLZvI">We haven’t mentioned <strong>Carrie Gross</strong> yet, and the 5’11” guard was second on the team in scoring even though she only started in 10 of XU’s games. She still averaged more than 22 minutes per game, which is pretty good for a player who was a sub for most of the year. We have to bring up <strong>Morgan Sharps</strong> too, as she fired off fewer threes (128) than Wasylson, but made more (48). Dunham was the only other regular to hit a higher percentage of her long range attempts, so you’d think that Sharps should have an obvious role for the upcoming season.</p>
<p id="6doeJ8">We’re still going! <strong>Sarah Leyendecker</strong> averaged 5.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in her first year of eligibility after transferring in from Akron. Ayanna Townsend and <strong>Courtney Prenger</strong> both appeared in all 30 games last year, with Townsend earning the start in 21 of them. The 6’2” Townsend has the edge in statistical contribution here, providing 5.5 points and 4.6 rebounds in her 19 minutes per game. That leaves us with <strong>Deja Ross</strong> as the final piece of the returning puzzle. Only 3.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per game for the 6’0” Rhode Island native, but eight starts in 28 appearances isn’t nothing.</p>
<p id="5pvrdi"><strong>Key Additions:</strong> <strong>Nia Clark</strong> is a transfer that is now eligible after sitting out last season following her transfer from Miami (OH). Clark started six times in nine games for Megan Duffy (<a href="https://miamiredhawks.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/2018-19">yes, Marquette’s Megan Duffy)</a> and the RedHawks before a season ending injury shut her down the rest of the way. The 5’9” Indianapolis native was averaging 10.6 points and 2.7 rebounds before her injury. In other transfer news, <strong>Kae Satterfield</strong> is immediately eligible for the Musketeers after leaving <a href="https://www.landgrantholyland.com">Ohio State</a> last season after appearing in 18 games. The former top 60 prospect averaged just 2.4 points and 1.8 rebounds per game before electing to withdraw from the Buckeyes’ program, and I would think that adding a top prospect like that essentially out of the blue should be a pretty big deal for Xavier. For those of you older types out there reading this, yes, that’s <a href="https://www.downthedrive.com">Cincinnati</a> star Kenny Satterfield’s daughter, and <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516590&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheathletic.com%2F1641789%2F2020%2F02%2F27%2Fsatterfield-story-how-a-cincinnati-hoops-stars-daughter-picked-rival-xavier%2F&referrer=sbnation.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.anonymouseagle.com%2F2020%2F11%2F13%2F21541046%2Fbig-east-womens-basketball-team-preview-xavier-musketeers-moore-gray-dunham-wasylson-satterfield" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">yes, he is already preparing for the static he will get from his former teammates about his daughter going to Xavier</a>.</p>
<p id="f1pp1E">In addition to those two, there are four freshmen on the roster. None of the four have any particular notable standing, with <strong>Janayshia Brown</strong> coming in as <a href="https://www.bluestarbb.com/commitment_school.php?division=8&sID=387&bpYearOfGraduation=2020&x=43&y=13">Blue Star’s top rated recruit in the class</a> at #225. Given the number of people returning from last season and the two transfers, a lack of obvious immediate impact freshmen isn’t the worst thing.</p>
<p id="3ZiafA"><strong>Coach:</strong> Melanie Moore, entering her second season on the sidelines at Xavier. It’s her first head coaching job, so Moore has an all-time record of 3-27.</p>
<p id="b8ZZZu"><strong>Outlook:</strong> So you take last year’s team, add a transfer who practiced with the squad all of last year, mix in a top 60 prospect that didn’t make an immediate impact at her original school of choice, and dust with a coating of new faces in the freshman class, and what do you get?</p>
<p id="3Jc9pu">That’s the question for Melanie Moore in Year #2. In theory, bringing essentially her entire team back for another go around and adding new blood to the mix should mean that the Musketeers get better. One of the hardest things about coaching college basketball is mitigating problems due to the constant turnover you’re required to have just because of eligibility limits. That’s not really a problem for Xavier here, as Ashley Gomez wasn’t having that big of an impact on XU last season. That kind of continuity should be a bonus for Moore and her charges. In theory, adding Kae Satterfield to a team that returns largely intact should actually make the the Musketeers notably better than last year.</p>
<p id="tFHk3O">In theory.</p>
<p id="aehgRW">The problem with the theory is that Xavier was awful last year, and it’s possible that “notably better” means that they go from awful to just bad. 16 of their 27 losses were by a double digit margin, with 11 of them coming against Big East foes. Seven of those 16 losses were by at least 20 points. Two of them — at DePaul and at St. John’s — were by more than 30 points and both of them happened after Valentine’s Day, when you’d like to think that a team with a first year head coach might just be finally clicking.</p>
<p id="6EymdW">The evidence for awfulness doesn’t stop at merely measuring the depth of the losses. The Musketeers ranked #312 in the country in field goal percentage and a woeful #340 in two-point shooting percentage. They made life even harder for themselves than it needed to be, ranking #253 in the country in foul rate according to Her Hoop Stats.</p>
<p id="C1jT7o">And that’s just the numbers for what Xavier was doing!</p>
<p id="Jq3AKt">In terms of what they were allowing from the other team, the Musketeers ranked lower than #280 in the following categories: field goal percentage, two-point shooting percentage, three-point shooting percentage, effective field goal percentage, free throw rate, three-point rate, assist rate, and block rate. </p>
<p id="0ffWHj">That’s a big ol’ bag of yuck, and merely rolling the exact same crew out on the floor isn’t going to fix that...... except that’s kind of what Xavier has to do this season. Sure, Kae Satterfield is probably going to get a chunk of minutes that went somewhere else last year, so that should change the equation. A’riana Gray desperately needs help out there, because Xavier’s plan of running everything through her — HHS says she led the country in Usage Rate at over 38%! — wasn’t working. In theory, and there’s those words again, Satterfield is that second punch in a 1-2 combo that raises the tide for the Musketeers.</p>
<p id="PSkzcF">But if she’s not..... well, I’d like to say that someone has to step up to that role. But if that was a thing that was 1) possible and 2) likely, then I’d like to think that Moore and her coaching staff would have identified it through 30 games a year ago. They didn’t, and it meant 27 losses, most of them ugly. If it’s more of the same this coming season from the tactical side, I’m afraid it’s going to be more of the same from the win-loss record side.</p>
<p id="5rB7yy"></p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2020/11/13/21541046/big-east-womens-basketball-team-preview-xavier-musketeers-moore-gray-dunham-wasylson-satterfieldBrewtown Andy2020-11-12T09:15:00-06:002020-11-12T09:15:00-06:002020-21 WBB Team Preview: Villanova
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<img alt="NCAA Womens Basketball: Big East Conference Tournament-Villanova vs Marquette" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_5tNJa1lR1pxkiA4mGhU4V43JXU=/0x83:4313x2958/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67777568/usa_today_14155317.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Maddy Siegrist was a freshman sensation last season. What’s on tap for Year #2? | Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>The Wildcats have a new coach for the first time since the Carter administration. No, seriously.</p> <p id="8BXzyF"><strong>Team:</strong> <a href="https://www.vuhoops.com">Villanova Wildcats</a></p>
<p id="q4PQCx"><strong>2019-20 Record:</strong> 18-13, 11-7 in the <a href="https://www.bigeastcoastbias.com">Big East</a></p>
<p id="epeP5V"><strong>2019-20 Big East Finish:</strong> Part of the five-way tie for third place, but drew the shortest draw and ended up in seventh and last place in the five team group because of tiebreakers.</p>
<p id="JgfTq0"><strong>Final 2019-20 Her Hoop Stats Ranking:</strong> #118</p>
<p id="qp7hUJ"><strong>Postseason Projection:</strong> <a href="https://highposthoops.com/2020/03/10/womens-basketball-bracketology-bid-stealers-gonzaga-wcc-tournament/">High Post Hoops</a> did not have the <a href="https://www.vuhoops.com/">Wildcats</a> in the field of 64, but it seems like they would have been a pretty good candidate for the WNIT based on record. That HHS ranking kind of indicates that they would not, though.</p>
<p id="9xRsTL"><strong>Key Departures: </strong>The Wildcats head into 2020-21 after losing three starters from the previous year’s squad. Mary Gedaka is the biggest name in the trio after averaging 17.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists last season. She did shoot just 27% from long range, so it wasn’t all perfect. Bridget Herlihy also wrapped up her eligibility with the Wildcats last year after starting all 30 games. She gave the squad 9.0 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. Finally, there’s Cameron Onken, who was a redshirt junior a year ago but it appears that she finished her degree in the spring and elected to move on to dental school instead of returning for a final year of college hoops. She played in all 30 games with 28 starts, so that’s a pretty notable loss from the lineup. The 5’10” Indiana native didn’t score all that much, chipping in just 93 points for the whole season. However, she did absorb rebounds incredibly well, averaging 6.9 per game, and she was a quality passer at 2.9 assists per game.</p>
<p id="zqtc81">And of course, we can’t talk about departures from the Villanova women’s basketball program without discussing Harry Perretta. The retirement of your coach after 42 years on the sidelines is going to create a bump or nine, no matter who the new coach is. Perretta compiled a record of 783-489 while guiding Villanova to 11 NCAA tournament appearances and 11 WNIT appearances. His peak of success came in the early 2000s when Villanova went to four straight NCAA tournaments and reached the second round each time as well as an Elite Eight in 2003.</p>
<p id="l51lfr"><strong>Key Returners:</strong> Okay, so here’s the good news: Big East Freshman of the Year Maddy Siegrist is back after leading the team in scoring (19.3 points/game) and rebounding (9.1/game). Villanova only had two double digit scorers a year ago, so it’s safe to say that what they were doing with Siegrist was working well enough. As you can put together though, there are no other double-digit scorers returning outside of Siegrist.</p>
<p id="11Cpus">Raven James is the next best scorer back for another go-round after chipping in 5.5 points per game last year. That’s fine for what she was asked to do, as she led the team in assists at 3.6 per game. Brooke Mullin averaged 14.1 minutes per game while appearing in all 30 games as a freshman last year, so we can kind of just handwave her stat line of 2.8 points and 1.6 rebounds. </p>
<p id="RZ0nyn">Now we move into the question mark department. Brianna Herlihy started Villanova’s first two games of the season and contributed 15 points and 11 rebounds in 50 minutes before going down for the year with an injury. It seems safe to say that she could be a valuable piece this year as long as she’s all the way back from that season ending injury. Also in the question mark department is Sam Carangi. She missed most of December and almost all of February due to injury, but in the 16 games she played, she was a cog in the machine. 14.5 minutes per game, 2.6 points per outing. Useful, but not depended upon. Kenzie Gardler played in all but two games last season, but averaged just under 10 minutes per game and scored even less than Carangi. We’ll have to wait to see what kind of roles they have on the squad in the upcoming season which has more question marks than merely just “who steps up?”</p>
<p id="5pvrdi"><strong>Key Additions:</strong> Sarah Mortensen is a transfer from Miami and is now eligible after sitting out last season. She was never a major impact player for the ‘Canes, although she played in at least 30 games in all three of her seasons in Coral Gables. I presume that she’s expecting to have a bigger role with the Wildcats, which is why you volunteer to go from Miami to Philadelphia on purpose. Noga Peleg Pelc transferred in from <a href="https://www.onthebanks.com">Rutgers</a> in the offseason, so I presume that she’ll have to sit out this season, but who can really say?</p>
<p id="ZQBKKr">There are also four freshmen on the roster this season. <a href="https://prospectsnation.com/class-rankings-2020-fall-2019">Prospects Nation says that the Wildcats have the #45 recruiting class in the country</a>, trailing only Marquette and Connecticut in the Big East. We have a bit of conflict in terms of who the best prospect might be. <a href="https://prospectsnation.com/players/verbals/2020/Villanova?title=">PN lists three recruits for the Wildcats</a> to get that #45 team ranking, including #89 overall Taliyah Medina. However, <a href="https://www.bluestarbb.com/commitment_school.php?division=8&sID=366&bpYearOfGraduation=2020&x=36&y=4">Blue Star puts the 6’0” Medina at #142</a> and trailing behind #130 Bella Runyan (5’11”) for the top spot in the recruiting class. </p>
<p id="qLXMlB">Kylie Swider and Lior Garzon round out the recruiting class. Swider is a 6’4” forward/center listed at #226 in the country by Blue Star, and because I know you’re wondering right now: Yes, that’s <span>Cole Swider</span>’s sister. Garzon is a 6’1” forward from Israel and is the mystery prospect not listed by Prospects Nation on their page for the Wildcats. </p>
<p id="NdpAEi">Somewhat unrelated: I would like to know why <a href="https://www.bluestarbb.com/commitment_school.php?division=8&sID=366&bpYearOfGraduation=2020&x=36&y=4">Blue Star lists Kiera Booth as a basketball commit for Villanova</a>..... when <a href="https://villanova.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster">she’s on the volleyball roster as a freshman right now</a> and she’s not on the basketball roster at all.</p>
<p id="3ZiafA"><strong>Coach:</strong> Denise Dillon, entering her first season on the sideline at Villanova, but 18th as a Division 1 head coach. She built up a record of 329-204 at Drexel over the past 17 seasons. The Dragons were a regular postseason squad over the past decade-plus under her direction, but after an NCAA appearance in 2009, it was only nine WNIT appearances in 10 seasons. </p>
<p id="b8ZZZu"><strong>Outlook:</strong> It all depends.</p>
<p id="ecdp93">I know, wishy-washy, right?</p>
<p id="CGkoRo">Villanova basketball has been The Harry Perretta Show for the past 42 seasons. And now it’s not. It is, to a certain extent, impossible to try and figure out where things go from here, and honestly, it’s almost irresponsible to try to draw any conclusions after this kind of a tectonic shift.</p>
<p id="tzu71E">However, it might not be that much of a shift. Facts are facts, and in this case, the fact is that Denise Dillon played for Harry Perretta. No matter what else she might have learned about coaching basketball while running Drexel since 2003, we can’t avoid the fact that her collegiate career was guided by Perretta from 1993 through 1996 and she got her start in coaching as his assistant from 1997 through 2001.</p>
<p id="psTXYf">Conveniently, Her Hoop Stats allows us to take two teams and compare them, so if nothing else, we can look at Dillon’s last two Dragons teams and compare it to Perretta’s final two Wildcats squads. Here’s what we can immediately identify:</p>
<ul>
<li id="0vBRuU">Dillon appears to prefer the same pace as Perretta. The last two Villanova teams were sub-330 in terms of possessions per 40 minutes, while Dillon’s last two Drexel teams both ranked #351 in that department.</li>
<li id="Y3R73B">Dillon has had a better time coaching up the defensive end in the past two seasons. Villanova has struggled mightily in terms of points per possession on that end, while Drexel was #7 in the country in 2018-19 and a perfectly acceptable #63 last season.</li>
<li id="0oGHYj">Drexel hasn’t had the shooters that Villanova has had. The Dragons were lagging well behind the Wildcats in the field goal percentage departments, but that can easily be a “Big East talent vs CAA talent” issue just as much as it can be an issue of coaching players into the best spots on the floor.</li>
<li id="y2HRXZ">Perretta was really leaning into using the three-pointer over the past couple of years with his squads going 1-3 in three-point rate. Dillon was not, with her teams shooting an average amount of three-pointers as part of their offense. That definitely seems to indicate that Dillon knew she didn’t have the shooters to let it fly like crazy.</li>
<li id="uBoCSC">Ball control is a prime concern. Both sets of teams went out of their way to find the open woman for a bucket with three of the four seasons we’re looking at ranking in the top 10 in the country. The same goes for turnovers with both teams being limiting their own mistakes.</li>
<li id="b00FEf">The only difference in the ball control department is that Dillon was pushing for steals much more than Perretta was. Drexel was #58 and #8 in the country in steal rate the past two seasons while Villanova was down around #330. At the slow pace involved, ending more than 10% of possessions (6-8 per game!) by taking it away from your opponent is incredibly beneficial to tilting outcomes in your favor.</li>
</ul>
<p id="G2JnSg">That’s just a fly-by overview of what we can maybe expect to stay the same and also change. It’s hard to make any detailed statements about who needs to step up or what needs to change until we actually see what Villanova is doing under Dillon, so this is the best that we have to work with for now. With Siegrist providing the scoring and rebounding and James controlling the backcourt, that gives Dillon an excellent two-woman base to work outwards when it comes to building her team in her image. If the rest of the returners are comfortable being relied on for important roles, this could go pretty well out of the gate. If Dillon has to turn to her freshmen to get things done, Year One might not be very pretty.</p>
https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2020/11/12/21537395/big-east-womens-basketball-team-preview-villanova-wildcats-dillon-siegrist-james-mullin-herlihyBrewtown Andy